talk 479

I was told that once a person passes 40 years of age, 50% of his/hers conversations will involve reminiscing of the times past. Guess this is only normal, as at that age, the average person has lived 50% of his life. With the exception of the female Lighters (our family celebrates the annual 29th birthday of Winnie), we have all passed that milestone. However, when the HK reunion committee chose the subject matter for seminar on the day of Gala Dinner, “The Way to Hi-Tech,” “The Way to Travel” and “The Way to Longevity,” all were dealing with the future. That alone shows how forward looking or young at heart the committee members are.

Walter Mok talked about his hi-tech start up venture making laser equipment to treat cardiovascular diseases, and his future plan of making equipment so people can apply hi-tech to develop Chinese medicine. Unfortunately, most of his talk was way above my head and beyond my understanding. The only thing that I understood was that the laser machine is somewhat like laser gun in the Star War movie that automatically, and selectively zaps the bad guys, the plaques in the blood vessels but leaves the good guys, the blood vessels untouched. Treating a patient is like playing a videogame by the cardiologists. You walk in as a tired old man with an ailing heart, a few zaps later, you walk out as a healthy young stud with a strong heart ready to take on the world. The new machine he is currently working on will accelerate the development of Chinese medicine. He has assembled a formidable team with impressive credentials with more degrees than a thermometer. I wish him success. Both his endeavors, should save or restore a lot lives in addition to bringing happiness to the cardiologists.

Gina Mok gave an excellent talk on how to travel and made profound impact and improvement on my personal life. Winnie was there and listened attentively. For our last trip to Shanghai, for the first time since our marriage, I did not have to pack her suitcase when we traveled together. She rolled up all her clothes by herself as demonstrated by Gina. For the next reunion, I would like to suggest a different topic to Gina. I cannot wait for the day coming home, popping my feet on the coffee table, Winnie will serve me an ice-cold martini along with the evening paper. By the way, I seldom drink martini, and HK has no evening paper. But then, Winnie never packed her suitcase before either. One can always dream, can one? By the way, Winnie, influenced by a few female Lighters on the trip to China, started to drink beer—something she never did before. So I am hopeful. And a hopeful person is a happy person. So thanks, Gina.

Tse Kong-Fong gave a very detailed talk about how to live a healthy, long life. Unfortunately we ran out of time. He did not have the chance to demonstrate the exercises that would promote good health that he showed to the reunion committee. I am sure if we allocated enough time, by the time he finishes his talk, we would all live to be100 years old, and he would still have 5 minutes to go to talk about the importance to have a religious belief. He will be an ideal candidate to talk about “it is not how long you live, but how you live it long” at the next reunion.

I had dinner with several San Francisco Bay Area Lighters last week in U.S. They were very impressed with the HK reunion for two reasons. First they are impressed with the well thought out plan and events filled schedules. Second they were impressed with the stamina the HK reunion committee expected of them. For most U.S. couch potatoes, the longest distance they walk is between their couch and the dinning room table. The only physical exercises they do are opening the refrigerator door or pushing the buttons on the TV remote. After a grueling two hours climbing up the hills, walking down the valleys at Lamma Island, a lot of them were too tired to lift the chopsticks. Yet the reunion committee asked them to tour the Mosque St. Many of them were so pooped they sat on the curb joint the homeless and watched the beautiful HK girls go by while HK Lighters shopped.

I understand there are two sources of pleasure, the sensual (ok, "sensuous" for those got A’s in English) and the mental. The sensual ones include what we see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. They are fleeting in nature and would require constant reinforcement to keep us pleased. The mental ones often involve strong emotional interactions with others, and would leave us with a long lasting memory. We would derive pleasure again and again whenever we reminisce. The HK reunion definitely is of the second kind and it left me with a happy memory that I would cherish for rest of my life.

Wishing you all A Happy Chinese New Year!